18-09-2014 Privacy Statement - archived

At Nest, we take your privacy seriously.

This document explains what kind of information Nest Labs, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, “Nest”) collects and stores, including personal information (i.e., data that can be reasonably linked to a specific individual or household) in connection with the operation of the Nest Learning Thermostat™, Nest Protect: Smoke + Carbon Monoxide™ Alarm, Works with Nest™, and other Products and Services from Nest (collectively, “Nest Products”). Nest Products include our mobile and web applications.

We pledge to:

Be transparent about the different types of information we collect and how we use them.

Ask your permission before sharing your Personally Identifiable Information with third parties for purposes other than to provide Nest’s services, and to do so only when we think they will provide you with a welcome additional service.

By using this service, you agree to allow us to collect and process information as described below.

What information does the Nest Learning Thermostat collect?

The Nest Learning Thermostat collects:

Information input during setup

Environmental data from the Nest Learning Thermostat’s sensors

Direct temperature adjustments to the device

Heating and cooling usage information

Technical information from the device

Information input during setup: When you install the Nest Learning Thermostat, you’ll be asked several questions in order to help us create an initial program of temperature settings that will keep you comfortable. For example, we’ll ask questions like whether your thermostat is located in a home or a business. We’ll also ask for your postal or zip code so that Nest can for example retrieve weather information for your neighborhood. In addition, the Nest Learning Thermostat pulls information directly from your heating and cooling (HVAC) system to learn its capabilities – such as if it has heating and cooling or is a heating-only system. Answering these questions helps us to set up an initial program that will keep you comfortable.

Environmental data from the Nest Learning Thermostat’s sensors: We collect data from several sensors built into the Nest Learning Thermostat. These sensors collect data such as current temperature, humidity and ambient light in the room. They can also sense whether something in the room is moving. This helps your Nest Learning Thermostat keep you comfortable when you are at home and save energy when you are away. For example, if the Nest Learning Thermostat senses a light being switched on or that you’ve entered the room after an extended period of time, it can adjust the setting to a preferred temperature, based on an assumption that you’ve just woken up or returned home. Similarly, if the light goes off or no one is moving in the room, the Nest Learning Thermostat may turn the temperature down sometimes to save you energy.

Direct temperature adjustments to the device: If you change the temperature on Nest, it records and feeds that information to the Nest Learning Thermostat algorithms to learn your desired comfort level in different situations.

Heating and cooling usage information: Every time your system turns on and off, Nest records the time and duration during which your system was on in order to offer you features such as usage history.

Technical information from the device: In order to improve your experience over time and help troubleshoot any problem you may encounter with the Nest Learning Thermostat, we record your Nest Learning Thermostat model and serial number, software version, and technical information such as battery charge level.

What information does the Nest Protect collect?

The Nest Protect collects:

Information input during setup

Environmental data from the Nest Protect’s sensors

Technical information from the device

Information input during setup: When you install Nest Protect, you’ll be asked where in your home you’re installing it. This will enable Nest Protect to inform you where an event is occurring.

Environmental data from Nest Protect’s sensors: We collect data from several sensors built into Nest Protect. These sensors collect data such as smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) levels, current temperature, humidity and ambient light in the room. They can also sense whether something in the room is moving. By recording this information, Nest Protect can do things like detect smoke and CO in your home, and give you alarms and warnings. For example, If Nest Protect sees that smoke or CO levels are rising, it will give you a Heads Up before the danger reaches emergency alarm levels and tell you what the danger is.

Technical information from the device: In order to improve your experience over time and help troubleshoot any problem you may encounter with Nest Protect, we record your Nest Protect model and serial number, software version, and technical information such as sensor status and battery charge level.

What information is shared among multiple connected Nest Products?

If you have multiple Nest products interfacing with one another, the products will share certain information with each other, such as data on whether something in the room is moving, temperature data, and the occurrence of smoke or CO alarms. This sharing may occur locally among devices, be available on your mobile device or application, or on Nest's servers. Understanding whether something in the room is moving can help the products do things like better assess if you are away from home so temperature can be reduced and you can save more energy.

If I use Works with Nest Product to connect third-party products and services to Nest, will information be shared?

When you choose to connect third party products and services through works with Nest, you are shown details about any proposed exhange(s) of data between Nest and the developer. Your explicit consent is required to allow this exchange on your behalf and you will be able to revoke it at any time. Any Nest data that you choose to share with a third-party is governed by that third-party’s privacy policy.

Any data that Nest receives from your connected devices or services will be stored by Nest and will be subject to this policy. This information may be processed in the same ways as any other data that is a part of your Nest account or the Nest logs.

What additional information does Nest collect and store when a user connects a Nest Product to the Internet or creates an account?

To access your Nest Product over the Internet from a computer, a smartphone or a tablet, you will need to connect it to your Wi-Fi network. During setup, the Nest Product will ask for your Wi-Fi network name (SSID) and password to connect to the Internet. It will save this information on the device, along with your IP address, so that you can access it and control it from your computer, smartphone or tablet, and so that it can communicate with Nest servers and download software updates.

Once connected to your Wi-Fi network, your Nest Product regularly sends the data described above in this privacy statement (excluding your Wi-Fi password) to Nest to provide you with the service.

Additionally, when you create a Nest Account, we collect and store your email address. From that point forward, your email address is used for communications from Nest.

Like most Internet sites, we routinely record log entries (including information such as your IP address) and technical information (such as your browser type and version) when your browser, mobile device or Nest Product contacts our servers. These log files are used for troubleshooting, and are stored on our cloud servers.

How does Nest use the information it collects?

We use this information to provide, develop and improve Nest Products and services, including information and recommendations about your products or energy use. We may use your contact details to send you this information, or to ask you to participate in surveys about your Nest use. We use service providers to perform some of these functions. Those service providers are restricted from sharing your information for any other purpose.

We use industry-standard methods to keep this information safe and secure while it is transmitted over your home network and through the Internet to our cloud servers. Depending on your location and type of data. Nest may process your personal information on servers that are not in your home country.

In what circumstances does Nest share my information?

Under no circumstance do we share personal information for any commercial or marketing purpose unrelated to the delivery of Nest Products and services without asking you first. Period. We do not rent or sell our customer lists.

The following are the limited situations where we may share personal information:

With your consent: We may share personal information when we have your consent. One example of this would be if you sign up through our website for some of the savings programs offered by our energy partners. If you do this, we may share certain information with the partner. This could include things like your enrollment information and the activation status of your device. Similarly, when you connect third-party devices and services to your Nest Products through the Works with Nest program, you are shown information about any proposed exchange of data. Your explicit consent is required to allow this exchange on your behalf and you can change your mind at any time.

For external processing: We have service technicians who help to answer your questions and who also assist with monitoring our servers for technical problems.

These technicians (as well as Nest employees) can access certain information about you or your account in line with this work but these technicians are not allowed to use this data for non-Nest purposes.

Business Transitions: Upon the sale or transfer of the company and/or all or part of its assets, your personal information may be among the items sold or transferred. We will request a purchaser to treat our data under the privacy statement in place at the time of its collection.

For legal reasons: We may provide information to a third party if we believe in good-faith that we are required to do so for legal reasons. For example, to respond to legal process, or comply with state and federal laws (or the applicable laws of foreign countries other than the United States).

We may share non-personal information (for example, aggregated or anonymized customer data) publicly and with our partners. For example, we may, publish trends about energy use or elevated carbon monoxide levels in the home. This information may also be shared with other users to help them better understand their energy usage compared to others in the Nest community, raise awareness about safety issues, or help us generally improve our system. We may also share this information with energy companies, for example, if they are interested in providing demand-response services. We take steps to keep this non-personal information from being associated with you and we require our partners to do the same.

Your personal information may be collected, processed and stored by Nest or its service providers in the United States and other countries where our servers reside.

As a result, your personal information may be subject to legal requirements, including lawful requirements to disclose personal information to government authorities, in those jurisdictions.

If you select an outside party for the purchase, installation, or service of your Nest device and share your personal information, we cannot control the collection, storage or sharing of information collected by that party. For example, if you bought your thermostat from a retailer, they may collect personal information as part of the transaction. Or the party that installed the device may retain information that you provided to them to assist them in servicing the device if needed. Always check the privacy policies for any company that collects your personal information.

How long does Nest save my personal information and how can I delete it?

Nest stores your personal information on Nest’s cloud servers for as long as you remain a Nest customer in order to provide you with the services.

As described above, some information is processed and stored directly on the Nest device. All information is encrypted and cannot easily be accessed. You can delete the information on the Nest device by resetting it to the defaults (using Reset in the Settings menu).

You can access, amend or delete your personal information from Nest’s servers through the controls in your account. Because of the way we maintain certain services, after your information is deleted, backup copies may linger for some time before they are deleted, and we may retain certain data for a longer period of time if we are required to do so for legal reasons.

We comply with the US-EU Safe Harbor Framework and the US-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use and retention of personal information from European Union member countries and Switzerland. Nest has certified (through its parent) that it adheres to the relevant Safe Harbor Privacy Principles.

Please note that this privacy statement may change from time to time. We will provide notice of any changes on the website or by contacting you.